Members of this family represent a distinct clade within the larger family of zinc-dependent dehydrogenases of medium chain alcohols, a family that also includes the so-called glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase. Members of this protein family have a tightly bound NAD that can act as a true cofactor, rather than a cosubstrate in dehydrogenase reactions, in dismutase reactions for some aldehydes. The name given to this family, however, is formaldehyde dehydrogenase, glutathione-independent.